Latch needle for circular knitting machines



April 1942- B. M. NEBEL 2,280,344

LATCH NEEDLE FOB CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES FilOd Jan. 21, 1941 INVENTOR BR u/v 0 MAX IVEBEL BY v ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 2 1, 1942 LATCH NEEDLE FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Bruno Max Nebel, Chemnitz, Germany Application 1 Claim.

This invention relates to latch needles for circular knitting machines of the kind covered by Patent No. 2,192,533, in which the needle head forms in its upper portion an inner angle which is smaller than a right angle and the vertex of which forms the highest point of the inner space of the head and the one located farthestfrom the needle breast, so that the hooked end of the head on the side where the needle breast is positioned extends inwardly towards the needle mesh or needle breast at an acute angle to the axis of the needle in oblique direction, and constitutes an improvement thereof.

A latch needle constructed according to Patent No. 2,192,533, owing to its novel type of head, is particularly suited for good plating work, with different and varicolored threads.

In this known needle the hooked end rectilinearly extends inwardly towards the needle breast at an acute angle to the axis of the needle in oblique direction, and the extreme end of the hook is therefore nearer the needle breast than is the upper blunt corner of the needle head. The undesirable consequence of this construction is that the thread intended to pass under the needle hook directly on coming out of its guide is not securely caught by the hook, since due to the inwardly bent end thereof the opening of the needle head is located too far away from the outlet of the thread guide. ordinary latches are used whose cavity receives the point of the needle hook at the closing of the latch, it is difficult in view of the angular position of the hooked end relative to the needle breast safely to insert the hooked end in the cavity of the latch in such manner that the latch is prevented from laterally sliding oil the hook and thereby keeping open the hook opening when a mesh is cast oil.

According to the invention, these troubles are eliminated by bending the lowermost portion of the hook extending obliquely inwardly at an acute angle to the axis of the needle in outward direction, away from the needle breast, to such an extent that this extreme end portion of the hook maintains approximately the same distance from the needle stem as the upper blunt corner of the needle head.

In this way, theopening of the hook has the usual width without requiring any change in the configuration of the head, which insures good plating, and the end of the hook will safely engage the cavity of the latch during closing of the latter.

One form of the invention is illustrated by way Furthermore, when January 21, 1941, Serial No. 375,182 Germany November 18, 1938 of example in the accompanying drawing showing a side view of a latch needle according to the invention.

The mode of operation of the needle having been described in detail in Patent No. 2,192,533, itis not considered necessary to do it again. The

' knitting needle I is shown as in the patent in a position relative to a sinker I0 during the sinking operation. The hook lb of the head of the needle I has not the usual semicircular shape which leaves some play to the incoming thread, but extends on its inside in an acute angle a, so that the plating thread 8 arriving first is positioned in the vertex of the angle, which forms the highest point of the inner space of the needle head and the one located farthest from the needle breast lo, and the following ground thread 9 will safely be placed near the plating thread 8 in the direction of the needle breast.

The thread 8 need not necessarily be a plush thread as assumed in the patent cited. Safe plating by means of the needle according to this patent isattained also by working the plating and ground threads into loops having the same length. In the older disclosure the hooked end Ia rectilinearly extends from the upper corner of the needle head at an acute angle to the needle breast, as indicated in the drawing by dotted lines, whereby the above-mentioned unfavorably narrow opening m is obtained. According to the invention, the hook end la is bent at o in a direction away from the needle breast to produce a wide opening p insuring safe entrance of threads into the hook. A further effect of this structural change is that the extremity Ir of the hooked end la safely engages the cavity s of the latch If.

I claim:

In a latch needle for circular knitting machines a stem, a head forming in its upper portion an internal angle which is smaller than a right angle and the vertex of which forms the highest point of the inner space of the head and the one located farthest from the needle breast, and a hooked portion extending on the side where the needle breast is positioned inwardly towards the needle breast at an acute angle to the axis of the needle in oblique direction, the free end of the said hooked portion being bent in outward direction away from the needle breast and the extremity thereof being positioned at approximately the same distance from the axis of the stem as the upper outer corner of the head.

BRUNO Max NEBEL. 

